Schools like UNC

[Anonymous]

I think OOS admit rate is like 4%, not 10%. Rankings would say the most similar schools are U of M, UVA and U of FL. School spirit and college town-wise, U of M is probably the most similar.

My UNC bound daughter was deciding between UNC and Vanderbilt. We have never lived in the south and she was pretty "I'm not going to school in the south" --until she visited. She thought the schools had a similar vibe. I'm sure many will disagree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Students from all parts of the country love Wisconsin--it is very similar in terms of school spirit to UNC.

But size and weather differ, and those two factors can be important to applicants. My DC at UVA looked closely at Chapel Hill and Madison. I liked UNC the best—less pretense, more normal (less competitive) vibe than DMV-dominated UVA. It was clear Madison, while a terrific school, is not comparable to UNC because of its size. Finding a schools in the 18,000 student range is VERY difficult. There aren’t many, if that’s the size your DC is looking for. For that matter, Austin is not comparable either. Too big. Too Texas. Very different from UNC but a great school.

I hear UVA’s rhetoric about test optional but not sure I believe it when it comes to DMV kids. And they won’t supply the data to evaluate if they are telling the truth. My impression is that they are using TO to round out within-VA geographic diversity and tap under-served groups. Maybe a handful of UMC DMV mids with something very special about them. But as a rule, it seems that they still want those high test scores from DMV applicants, and they need to be pretty stratospheric for the OOS (unhooked) applicants.

+1. Completely agree